# How To Get A Spaghetti Sauce Stain Out Of Your Shirt *By James Hills, menwhoblog.com — Updated November 2024* Written by: [James Hills](https://menwhoblog.com/james-hills.html) Last Updated: 28 November 2024 Top BlogHits: 8174Reading time: 02:24 Spaghetti sauce has a lot of staining power thanks to the ingredients. Acid from the tomatoes, fat from the oil and meat used to make the sauce, and starch from the pasta all combine to make a stain that wants to stick. To get it out, act fast. ## Act Fast with Water Scrape away any excess to lessen the risk of making a bigger stain. Take off the shirt and turn it inside out. If you rub it from the front, you just grind the sauce into the fibers of the fabric. From the back, flush the stain with cold water. Don't scrub the fabric, just rinse it with the strongest stream of water you can find to force the sauce out of the fibers of the shirt. ## Use Detergent and a Little Pressure Work a bit of laundry soap or a degreasing dish soap into the back of the wet stain. Still from the back, tamp the stain by gently tapping it with an soft-bristle toothbrush. Don't scrub, and don't tap hard enough to flex the bristles. You're just working the detergent through the fabric without damaging the fibers. Rinse well after tamping. ## Pre-Treat Before Laundering Once you've tamped and rinsed, turn the shirt right side out and lay it flat. Spray the stain with a pre-treatment product that's designed to loosen up tough stains. A simple [homemade spray](https://www.food.com/recipe/spray-wash-copycat-home-made-laundry-pre-treater-483891) that you can mix to use any time is - 1/3 cup liquid dish soap - 1/3 cup plain ammonia - 1/3 cup water As this product contains ammonia, once you pretreat the stain, you **cannot bleach** this shirt until it's been washed at least once. However, if you're on the road or it will be a while before the shirt is laundered, it is nice to know that this treatment can be applied to the stain and immediately washed, or rolled up and washed later. If you decide to mix up a bottle of this for future use, mark it as a product containing ammonia. ## A Word About Vinegar Vinegar is a terrific degreaser and can be used on cottons to good effect. However, vinegar can permanently discolor some fabrics, so before you use it to get the tomato sauce out of any garment, test is on the home for color-fastness. It's important to note that vinegar can be used as a dye fixative. For example, if you want to dye eggs and don't have a commercial dye kit, you can mix food coloring, hot water and vinegar to good effect. That being said, if the fabric, staining food and vinegar react improperly, you might make the stain permanent. A good spaghetti sauce is completely worth the risk, but shirts aren't cheap and you want to take good care of your clothes. Act fast, flush the stain from the back with lots of cool water, then tamp with a degreasing detergent and pre-treat as necessary. **Hey James Hills wants you to share this!**   ---   Written by: [James Hills](https://menwhoblog.com/james-hills.html) #MenWhoBlog MemberBlog MasterThought Leader James' passion for exploration and sense of duty to his community extends beyond himself. This means he is dedicated to providing a positive role model for other men and especially younger guys that need support so that they can thrive and be future positive contributors to society. This includes sharing wisdom, ideas, tips, and advice on subjects that all men should be familiar with, including: family travel, men's health, relationships, DIY advice for home and yard, car care, food, drinks, and technology. Additionally, he's a travel advisor and a leading men's travel influencer who has been featured in media ranging from New York Times to the Chicago Tribune, and LA Times. He's also been cited by LA Weekly "Top Travel Bloggers To Watch 2023" and featured by Muck Rack: "Top 10 Outdoor Journalists for 2022". He and his wife Heather live in St Joseph, Michigan - across the lake from Chicago. ### Cruises and Resorts Thinking about a cruise or all-inclusive resort vacation? We can help you plan your dream getaway ... 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